Two weeks ago, Viacom announced that they had acquired ad-supported streaming TV service, Pluto TV for $340 million. The service which offers 100 linear channels of lifestyle, news, sports, and entertainment content through partnerships with 130 media networks.
On today’s Q4 earnings call, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish shared more about the company’s rationale for the purchase. Viacom plans to use their infrastructure to expand Pluto TV’s footprint in the United States and around the world. The company also hopes to expand on the platform’s 100 live linear channels with their deep library genre-specific content - kids (Nickelodeon), African-American (BET), reality (MTV & VH1), and comedy (Comedy Central).
Viacom also sees Pluto TV as a marketing engine to sell their own OTT services — Noggin, Comedy Central Now, and Nick Hits. But don’t expect first-run content to appear on Pluto TV, as Viacom says they will keep that content for their own linear channels.
Pluto TV has more than 12 million monthly active users, 7.5 million of which are on connected TVs. The service can stream across a wide array of devices including Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, PS4, iOS, Android, and your computer.
The company is just one of the growing segment of free ad-supported streaming services including tubiTV, Xumo, and Sinclair’s recently launched STIRR.